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Thursday, February 13, 2014

Therese Travis: Romance for Writers

Who doesn’t love a little romance in
his or her life? Look at Valentine’s Day—all the chocolate and flowers and
fancy cards with sweet verses inscribed inside. (Did I mention the chocolate?
Because I’d hate to forget the chocolate!)

Romance writers have a special
calling. They need to take the basic plot—boy meets girl, boy falls in love
with girl, boy almost loses girl, boy wins girl—and make it new and fresh, and
different from the thousands of other stories utilizing the same plot. How to
do this? I mean, people have been falling in love forever, right? I’m assuming
Adam was the only guy who didn’t have to wonder if Eve liked someone else
better—no rivals for him.

Judging from the number of romance
books sold, we do a great job. I admit, though, that I sometimes just can’t
wrap my pen around the romance. I shudder at the thought that they just might
not make it, that some small thing, easily overcome by someone with a clearer
vision, will keep them apart forever.

How could I do that to my precious
MCs (main characters)?

(I know, as writers, we’re supposed
to. It’s still hard.)

But then I started to look at those
“small things,” the things an outsider could see as wrong, but the characters
can’t. And using those, I began to see my way.

It’s not the lie that will bring love
to your characters, but the reveal: The lie is, in fact, really a lie.

Begin on a collision course. Your
female MC’s development intersects with the male MC’s, and at the beginning of
the story, there’s no way either of them can enter into a relationship with the
other person. And yet, that person is theirs, ordained by God. You’ve got the
whole manuscript to show your characters the truth of this.

Choosing the lie is the hard part. The
fact that you’ve got to find one for each prominent character, and make them
mesh, can make you want to toss your options into the wind and let the birds
pick for you.

And don’t get me started on what these
lies have to do with love. Love should always be honest, right? But if our MCs
are lying to themselves, how can they be honest with each other?

Ooh, perfect tension.

I don’t need a man. Or a woman. I
don’t deserve love. I don’t like you. You’re not my type. I have my career to
worry about first. I have other obligations. No one will want me. There’s
someone, or something, I love more. Lots of lovely lies. Lots of lovely ploys
to keep your lovers apart.

Add in to this the faith angle, and
you’ve got even more tension. None of us are perfect in our faith, and we’re
all on our own journeys. We’re not going to match steps. And we have our
standards. What if we put those standards, or lack thereof, before the will of
God?

The middle of the story is what I
sometimes call the muddle—everything can, and should, go wrong. The fight
against the lie, loss of ground, proof that the lie is true, all these should
come about.

And then—that step of faith—whether
it’s faith in God, or self, or another person, leads to the first kiss. Just as
it should.

In my latest release, A Fistful of
God, a YA, Aidyn believes no normal boy could be interested in her. She needs
to realize her worth, that it’s all right to reach out. Miguel believes he has
to choose between protecting his mother and loving Aidyn.

Wishing you a happy, romantic
Valentine’s Day (because who wouldn’t want it?) and don’t forget the chocolate!A Fistful of God

She's never taken a drink, but she's recovering from
alcoholism all the same.

After the death of her father, teenager Aidyn Pierce spends
all her time cleaning up her mother's messes. So when Mom announces she's
getting sober, Aidyn doesn't believe her. Mom has tried before, and Aidyn knows
there will come a time—a day, a week, maybe even a month from now—when the
cravings will be too much, and her mother will start drinking again. So, when
Aidyn is encouraged to attend support meetings, she refuses. No point in
wasting her time when her mother's going to drink again, anyway.

But what Aidyn doesn't count on is the healing power of love
and friendship, and the incredible strength of God to walk both mother and
daughter through the dark valley of addiction and recovery.Therese's books on Amazon

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